


First Rule of Debate Club

by Kacka



Series: Kacka Does Another Thing [2]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Childhood Friends, F/M, Social Media, Texting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-14
Updated: 2018-03-14
Packaged: 2019-03-31 03:00:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,711
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13965921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kacka/pseuds/Kacka
Summary: Bellamy hasn't seen or heard from Clarke Griffin since they graduated high school, but apparently one text is all it takes for him to remember why he liked her so much. Luckily, he's much more emotionally competent now than he was as a teenager.Mostly.





	First Rule of Debate Club

**Author's Note:**

> For @sneakyclarke on tumblr! Hope you like it!

_Clarke Griffin added you to the group FIGHT CLUB._

The notification pops up on his phone in the middle of studying and it’s like every possible thought vanishes from Bellamy’s head at once. He shakes his head with a smile and looks back down at his books, lines of texts now blurring before his eyes. For one thing, he had a long day at work before he even dragged his ass to the library to get some work done on his thesis. His whole body is tired, his eyes most of all.

But all of a sudden, he finds every nerve in his body alight with expectation. It’s downright stupid that his high-school crush should still have this effect on him more than a decade later, but he never claimed to be emotionally well-adjusted.

Case in point, his heart lurches when his phone lights up again a few seconds later, this time with a text to the group.

 **Clarke Griffin:** Have you guys seen this?? *crying laughing emoji*  
https://www.facebook.com/events/100293824765

The tiny smile that had cropped up on his face at the sight of her name grows into a full-fledged grin. Over ten years since they spoke with any kind of regularity and she starts a conversation like it’s been ten minutes.

Whatever link it is she’s sharing, Bellamy would have agonized over how to breach a twelve-year gap. It’s such a Clarke thing to ignore the awkwardness completely, he can’t help feeling fond.

 **Monty Green:** Sorry did we just go back in time? Is it 2006 again?

 **Jasper Jordan:** I Did Not Spend The Better Part Of My Life As A Sci Fi Nerd For Time Travel To Happen Without Me Noticing

 **Monty Green:** Title of your autobiography

 **Nathan Miller:** I can’t believe you put in the effort to capitalize all of those words  
Oh no wait  
I absolutely can

 **Raven Reyes:** Don’t worry Jordan  
I promise when I figure out time travel I’ll give you a heads up

 **Jasper Jordan:** That’s all I ask

 **Nathan Miller:** but really, what’s happening here?

 **Monty Green:** None of this is convincing me it’s not 2006

 **Clarke Griffin:** [surprise-bitch-I-bet-you-thought-you’d-seen-the-last-of-me.gif]  
Did no one look at the link I sent?

There’s a pause in the flow of texts as Bellamy, and presumably everyone else, scrolls up to look at the link.

 **Raven Reyes:** Asdfhsdlfjksdf a twelve-year reunion???  
TWELVE??

 **Jasper Jordan:** lmaooo

 **Clarke Griffin:** Wells totally forgot he was supposed to be planning these things.  
Missed the 10-year one entirely lmao

 **Raven Reyes:** CALLED OUT

 **Nathan Miller:** What a waste of a vote for SBP

 **Monty Green:** I want my money back

 **Wells Jaha:** Me too. What happened to best friend confidentiality??

 **Clarke Griffin:** I don’t know her

 **Raven Reyes:** Don’t worry Jaha, we won’t tell anyone.  
First rule of debate club and all that.

Bellamy snorts a laugh at the old joke.

None of their practice debates back in the day had actually turned into physical brawls, but some of them had come close. Even if he and Clarke hadn’t really held whatever view they’d been assigned to defend, they were too competitive (with too much animosity between them) to admit it.

As an adult, Bellamy can see that he wouldn’t have been so determined to get under her skin if he hadn’t had a crush on her. And that he wouldn’t have had a crush on her if she weren’t brilliant and ruthless in the way that showed most when they were at each other’s throats.

 **Wells Jaha:** Friendship with Clarke canceled. Raven is my favorite now

 **Clarke Griffin:** That’s fair. Raven is everyone’s favorite

 **Raven Reyes:** *kissy face emoji*

 **Jasper Jordan:** So we’re going to this right?  
I mean, I could use a long weekend off

 **Monty Green:** You’re self-employed

 **Jasper Jordan:** Yah so the work never stops rlly  
U kno I’m not good with Boundaries

 **Nathan Miller:** Or spelling apparently

 **Jasper Jordan:** Genius Is Never Appreciated In Its Time, N8

 **Nathan Miller:** Jesus

 **Raven Reyes:** I mean I don’t care about seeing anyone else from high school but if you guys show up I’m there

 **Clarke Griffin:** Hard same

 **Nathan Miller:** question for Wells: are you allowed to boycott an event you’re organizing?

 **Wells Jaha:** Didn’t we go through this with like every school dance?

 **Monty Green:** Yep. And I don’t seem to remember attending any dances soooo

 **Wells Jaha:** I’m reserving the top floor of that new brewery downtown. You guys can get a booth and not talk to or look at anyone else, but you are NOT DITCHING THIS TIME  
You’re going to show up and you’re going to like it, gdi

 **Nathan Miller:** I like a man who takes charge  
I’ll be there  
If anyone needs a place to stay, my dad’s got some real nice couches

 **Raven Reyes:** dibs

 **Monty Green:** DIBS  
Dammit

 **Nathan Miller:** You can both have dibs. Anyone else?

 **Clarke Griffin:** Probably gonna crash with Mom but thanks

 **Wells Jaha:** I live here, so

 **Raven Reyes:** So, exclusive afterparty at Jaha’s!

 **Jasper Jordan:** Hell Yes

 **Wells Jaha:** wait

 **Nathan Miller:** you set yourself up for that one tbh  
I’ll bring some games

 **Monty Green:** I’ll bring the booze

 **Clarke Griffin:** And I’ll be there to make sure nobody dies

 **Bellamy Blake:** Just like old times

The group message keeps buzzing with text after text, his friends falling back into old patterns of banter like no time has passed. But his phone also buzzes with a text in a separate message, one just between him and Clarke. He grins as he switches over to read it.

 **Clarke Griffin:** Way to lurk

 **Bellamy Blake:** Thanks, I’ve practiced

 **Clarke Griffin:** I figured you were asleep like the elderly man you secretly are. I was expecting a text in the morning to the effect of “wtf are all these notifications get off my lawn”

 **Bellamy Blake:** Sorry to disappoint  
I can go back to lurking if you want

 **Clarke Griffin:** If I didn’t want to hear from you I wouldn’t have included you in the group message

It shouldn’t please him as much as it does. It would be truly, honestly ridiculous of him to be holding a candle for Clarke after all this time. But he can’t help feeling like there were a lot of what-if’s left between them. And those tend to haunt a person.

 **Bellamy Blake:** I’m touched, Princess

 **Clarke Griffin:** well i WAS going to offer you my mom’s guest room but if you’re going to keep up with that princess nonsense…

Bellamy pauses with his fingers over the keys. He’d been planning to set up an air mattress on someone’s floor, or beg off someone’s couch-- Wells’s, maybe, or if worst came to worst, it’s not like he and Miller never shared a bed. Granted, they’d been hooking up at the time, but his friends wouldn’t leave him out in the cold.

Still, staying with Clarke sounds six thousand times better, even if it involves her mom, who never seemed to like Bellamy all that much.

 **Bellamy Blake:** You were?

 **Clarke Griffin:** Your mom moved away, right?

 **Bellamy Blake:** Yeah but I didn’t think you knew that

 **Clarke Griffin:** I drove by your old house when I was home for break once and saw the for sale sign  
I remember being really bummed that I probably wouldn’t run into you around town after that

He swallows and sits up straighter. If he could somehow manage not to blow this, that would be ideal.

 **Bellamy Blake:** I missed you too

And then, before she can respond to that, he follows up.

 **Bellamy Blake:** If that guest room is still up for grabs, I think I can probably control my nickname-related impulses for a weekend

It’s probably only a few seconds before her response comes through but it feels like much longer.

 **Clarke Griffin:** then i can probably control my revenge-related impulses for a weekend  
The room is all yours

 **Bellamy Blake:** Thanks Clarke  
I know high school reunions are supposed to just be heinous occasions for everyone to show off their successes or whatever but is it completely lame that I’m really excited to see you guys?

 **Clarke Griffin:** Yeah, but I always knew you were a softy deep down  
Like  
Deep, deep down

 **Bellamy Blake:** Yeah, yeah

 **Clarke Griffin:** Don’t worry, I won’t spread it around  
Despite what Wells claims, I can keep a secret

 **Bellamy Blake:** Not sure it’s really a secret but thanks for having my back

 **Clarke Griffin:** Anytime

* * *

Bellamy likes to think that he would have joined the debate club even if Clarke hadn’t been a part of it, but he knows that’s not entirely truthful.

The first time he ever saw her was on their first day of Kindergarten. With perfect, wispy blonde ringlets and the biggest, bluest eyes he’d ever seen, she looked like one of Octavia’s dolls. By the end of the day, her overalls had grass stains on the knees, her arms and hands were covered in Magic Marker, and he’d decided she was his best friend.

Even when they were in different classes, they’d find each other on the playground, sit together on the bus. For a while, they were the only ones in their grade on the same reading level, so he’d get pulled out of his classroom to have reading and spelling group with her. He liked stories of kids in history and she liked nonfiction books about animals and insects, and even now every time he sees a monarch butterfly he thinks of afternoons spent on plush reading cushions trying not to be interested in the books Clarke was making him read.

Those were the glory days of their friendship. Before the other boys in his grade made fun of him for being friends with a girl. Before he really understood the difference in the opportunities and material things that were available to Clarke and not available to him.

He stopped seeking her out as much in middle school, and they both made other friends, and by the time high school rolled around they were barely friends anymore.

“It happens,” his mom told him once, after an awkward run-in with the Griffins at the grocery store, in which he and Clarke didn’t exchange a single word. “People grow apart, and sometimes it’s nobody’s fault. You just grow into different people.”

Bellamy had shrugged it off, but the sentiment had never sat right with him. For all they weren’t close anymore, Clarke always seemed like the kind of person he would like a lot, if he let himself.

So when his sophomore civics teacher passed around an interest sheet for debate club and he saw Clarke’s name scrawled messily at the top of the page, he’d carefully inked his own name at the bottom.

He’s always been glad he did. The seven of them that were in the same year had begun as a band of misfits and ended up his closest friends in the world. They’d fallen out of touch some in college, and more after, but he still thinks of them as people who are important to him.

Clarke, most of all.

Hearing from Clarke now sort of feels like it had to reconnect with her in high school. They’ll never get back to the fast, fierce friendship of their childhood. But it warms him to know that the person she was-- the person he liked and admired more than he ever let on-- still exists. He still recognizes her, sees that she’s the same person she always was at her core. No matter what his mother said, that person hasn’t disappeared for good.

* * *

 **Raven Reyes:** Hey Jaha do I get to bring a plus one?

 **Jasper Jordan:** I already asked and he said No

 **Monty Green:** You asked if you could bring a girl you met on Tinder before you even had a first date with her

 **Jasper Jordan:** What About It

 **Monty Green:** (it did not go well, btw)  
(everyone be glad wells said no)

 **Wells Jaha:** yep I’ll put you down for raven reyes and guest

 **Jasper Jordan:** WHAT

 **Raven Reyes:** suck it

 **Nathan Miller:** face it Jordan, Raven is more intimidating than you are

 **Monty Green:**  I've met squirrels more intimidating than Jasper

 **Jasper Jordan:**  Et Tu, Monte?

 **Wells Jaha:** I do want to stay on Raven's good side, but also Finn just RSVPed that he’ll be there

 **Clarke Griffin:** Raven, any chance your plus one would be ok staying at home so you and I can make out in front of Finn all night?

 **Raven Reyes:** Luna would probably understand, but unlike Finn, I’m into monogamy.  
Sorry, babe.

 **Jasper Jordan:** I’ll make out with u Clarke  
For the Greater Good

 **Clarke Griffin:** Thanks for the selfless offer but I’m gonna pass

 **Jasper Jordan:** That’s Cold

 **Monty Green:** *collective sigh of relief*

* * *

 **Nathan Miller:** I can’t tell if you’re just still bad at texting or if you aren’t looking at your phone but how much do you want to kill Jordan rn

 **Bellamy Blake:** Not as much as I’d want to kill him if Clarke said yes.  
You think we’re ever growing out of the too-cool-for-first-names thing?

 **Nathan Miller:** Not a chance, Blake  
You think you’re ever growing out of your crush on Griffin?

 **Bellamy Blake:** Read 10:37pm

 **Nathan Miller:** Yeah, that’s what I thought

* * *

Bellamy doesn’t want to make the same offer that Jasper made. For one thing, it feels a little sleazy. For another thing, Clarke shooting him down in the group text would be much more humiliating than it was for Jasper, as most of his friends in high school (not to mention teachers, casual acquaintances, and random passersby) knew how hugely he was into her.

Mostly though, he doesn’t want hooking up with Clarke to be about Finn at all. If he ever gets to kiss her, he wants it to count for something real.

But the whole conversation seems too good an opportunity to talk to her for him to pass up, so after much debate he finally sends:

 **Bellamy Blake:** I can’t tell if you need a Finn-blocker or if you just wanted to make out with Raven.

 **Clarke Griffin:** Little of this, little of that

The speech bubble that indicates she’s typing pops up right after her initial response and Bellamy sinks further down into his couch, settling in for a full-blown conversation. He pulls a throw pillow into his lap to prop hands and phone on. The fact that it doubles as a good place to smother the embarrassing smile on his face is just a bonus.

 **Clarke Griffin:** He never really accepted that we were broken up back in the day. Going to different colleges thousands of miles apart was the only thing that let me shake him  
I’m mostly just afraid he’s going to think this is a second chance for us or some shit.

 **Bellamy Blake:** That unfortunately sounds about right

 **Clarke Griffin:** Yeah  
Wells offered to be my fake boyfriend but I don’t think he and I could sell a believable romantic relationship

 **Bellamy Blake:** I’m with you on that one. You’re way more of a dick than Wells is.

 **Clarke Griffin:** lmao exactly  
He can do better  
His backup plan was for me to just hang out with you all night.

 **Bellamy Blake:** Me?

 **Clarke Griffin:** Yeah.

The typing bubble pops up again and Bellamy waits with baited breath. After what feels like an excruciatingly long time, her text is simple.

 **Clarke Griffin:** Finn used to really hate you.

 **Bellamy Blake:** The feeling was mutual, only my excuse was legitimate. He screwed over two of my best friends.  
I remember glaring in his direction a lot senior year.  
I’m not surprised he hated me. I definitely could have taken him in a fight. And I wanted to.

 **Clarke Griffin:** That’s not really why  
I mean that might have been part of it, but even when he and I were dating I think it was always pretty obvious I thought of you more highly than I thought of him

Bellamy wets his lips and sits up, staring at his phone like it’s the single most important thing he’s ever beheld.

 **Bellamy Blake:** I always thought you were too good for him

 **Clarke Griffin:** lol so the hierarchy is Wells  > me > Finn?

 **Bellamy Blake:** Wells is the best of us, and he could definitely find someone more compatible with him than you  
But there’s no universe in which I think he could do better.  
No one else could even come close.

The typing bubbles pop up, then disappear, and the next thing he knows his phone is buzzing with an incoming FaceTime call.

He laughs aloud and accepts the call, running a nervous hand through his hair and wishing he looked nicer than pajamas and damp hair and his glasses. Then again, there’s no way he could have predicted Clarke would want to video chat with him. This is entirely unprecedented.

When he sees her on the screen his heart swoops in his chest. Her hair is shorter now, cut above her shoulders with a bright red streak in the underlayers. She’s biting back on a grin of her own, her blue eyes sparkling, and this is why he should have been on Facebook or Instagram or somewhere he could have kept his fantasies of bumping into her on the street and being super smooth, up to date.

Part of him had thought he was remembering her with rose-colored lenses. That there was no way the sight of her at eighteen was ever as good as he thought it was.

The sight of her at thirty is even better.

“You ruined my whole plan,” she says in greeting, another conversation started in medias res. Bellamy grins.

“There was a plan? I had no idea.”

“I was going to make a move on you at the reunion. Use Finn as an excuse to stick with you all night, hook up with you down the hall from my mom like we never did as teenagers--”

Bellamy laughs again, transfixed by the way delight overtakes her features.

“No offense but I have a lot of issues with that plan. Primarily that they involve your mother and Finn. Unless reconnecting with me is about fulfilling some high school fantasy…”

“High school me would be very jealous,” she says, smirking. “Middle school me would be pissed. Elementary school me would be grossed out.”

“And present-day you?”

She ducks her head, but not before he catches sight of a smile twisting her lips.

“Current me is pretty stoked. Even if you stole my thunder.”

“You can totally have it back.” He clears his throat. “Go ahead. Make a move on me.”

“Hey Bellamy, do you want to go out with me a month and a half from now?”

His grin, broad and bright, escapes before he can help it.

“Yeah, I really do.”

* * *

 **Bellamy Blake:** Stopped for gas. About 30 minutes out.

 **Clarke Griffin:** Pizza has the same ETA so nice timing

 **Bellamy Blake:** Yeah I always try to arrive at the same time as the food when I’m going to meet someone who hates me  
At least your mom will be happy to see one of us

 **Clarke Griffin:** I’ve been talking you up, dw.  
Besides, she only hated you when we were in high school bc you looked like the kind of boy who would own a motorcycle and get me arrested.  
She didn’t know you were just a hot nerd

 **Bellamy Blake:** If anyone was going to get us arrested in high school it would’ve been you. I needed scholarships.  
And if I’m a nerd at least I’m a hot one

 **Clarke Griffin:** so hot  
it’s your brand  
embrace it  
btw we’re definitely going to do it in my childhood bedroom this weekend

 **Bellamy Blake:** Veto.  
You can sneak into the guest room. I’m not playing into your teenage fantasies, that’s creepy.

 **Clarke Griffin:** are you saying you haven’t always wanted to bang under the watchful gazes of n*sync and spice girls posters???

 **Bellamy Blake:** That’s exactly what I’m saying.  
Hitting the road again. See you soon

 **Clarke Griffin:** not soon enough but I’ll take it.

* * *

She’s waiting for him on her mom’s front steps when he pulls into the driveway, her head snapping up from her phone when she hears his car.

“You made it,” she says when he opens the door, beaming. He’s barely out of the car before she throws herself into his arms, the two of them fitting together in a hug that he never wants to end.

“I did make it,” he says, combing her hair away from his mouth. “It was really touch and go there for a while, though. Elm Street is much more treacherous than I remember it being.”

“Jerk.” She pulls back. “Grab your bag, let’s go inside. I’m freezing.”

“You didn’t have to wait for me out here.”

“I know.” He shuts the trunk and finds her eyes on him, her lip trapped between her teeth. “But I really didn’t want to wait to do this.”

Bellamy holds still as Clarke steps into his space, his hands coming to rest on her hips as she leans in to brush her lips over his once. Quick and light.

“Pretty sure you could have done that in front of your mother,” he teases, though the way his voice has dropped an octave gives him away. Clarke grins and kisses him again, this time slipping him a little tongue that makes him laugh.

“That better?”

“It’s what I was hoping for,” he admits, letting her take his hand and lead him up the drive.

“You’ve thought about kissing me, huh?”

“Two or three… hundred times, yeah,” he says, gratified when she laughs.

“I get that.”

“Yeah?”

She pauses and leans up to kiss him again, more like the first kiss than the second. “You weren't the only one who was hoping.”

Bellamy grins, nudging her toward the door. It's true they've been a long time coming, but there will be time to reminisce later. For now, he's looking forward to finding out what happens next.


End file.
